Tapp In

Earlier this week, my Philadelphia Eagles made a move to pick up 25-year-old sackmeister Darryl Tapp from Seattle. Seeing how Tapp went to Viriginia Tech, where an old friend of mine lives and watches the town team, I checked in for an assessment. It's encouraging... in that Tapp was so beloved for his engine there that he was given the nickname of Lunch Pail, and tht he was the only guy to not only get the sobriquet, but also the actual damn item. So there's that.

On the other hand, he's a 6'-1, 270-pound DE, which seems to point to him being too light in the hindquarters to me an every down force. And 18 sacks in 64 games on a team where the defense has not overwhelmed... does not overwhelm. Especially in the NFC West, where the teams generally have bad offensive lines and QBs that take sacks.

Now, it's possible that with coaching and experience comes wisdom, or that Tapp is just a bit of a late bloomer, or even that he's just a better version of the guy that went to Seattle (Chris Clemons, who spent two years in Eagle green doing little more than reminding us that sometimes ex-Raiders don't leave all the Raider behind).

There's also this: the team wanted Tapp in the 2005 draft, when Seattle took him. They got him back now for relatively little, and didn't tie up a ton of contract cash, the way that a Julius Peppers signing would. Plus, he's still just 25, so his best days *should* be ahead of him.

Of course, if he just slips below the waves and has no more impact than Clemons, it's also not like the team is going to take it in the neck from the fan base. Which makes it the perfect Andy Reid signing, the equivalent of calling a mild raise with a low pocket pair in hold'em; if the flop hits them right, they'll look like geniuses on the cheap.

Or, well, cheap.

And finally, under the heading of "Things Philly Fan Didn't Want To Hear"... the man likes pedicures. Enjoy that one, Sports Radio Meatheads...